A coat of arms is a device or emblem
represented on a shield. Blazonry is the precise and peculiar
language used to describe a coat of arms, and a blazon is such
a description. Here are some general rules to the structure
of a blazon.
The first part of a blazon is a description of the field,
or background, of the shield. This could be either a color,
a pattern, or a description of the way in which the field is
partitioned into areas of two different colors.
For reasons more applicable to the designing of a coat of
arms than in the translation of blazonry, the colors used in
heraldry are divided into three groups; metals, colors, and furs.
The metals are gold and silver, called "or" and "argent",
and represented in print by yellow and white. The colors are
gules, azure, sable, vert, and purpure - the heraldic names for
red, blue, black, green, and purple respectively. The principle
furs are "ermine" (white with black ermine spots) and
"vair" (shield shaped divisions of blue and white).
Shields can be partitioned in a great number of standard patterns
such as; "per pale" (split up the middle), "per
chevron" (a broad peak extending from the bottom), per fess
(split top and bottom), per bend (split diagonally), per cross
or quarterly (split in four, with each color occupying opposite
quarters), etc. The lines which make the split are most often
plain, but can be wavy, dovetailed, indented (zigzag), "engrailed",
"embattled", etc.
Semee is the common pattern, meaning a field covered with
a succession of small figures. Some semee patterns have special
names, such as "goutty" for a semee of water drops,
or "checky" for a semee of squares.
Got it so far? "Quarterly vert and sable" would
be a shield split in four, with opposite quarters of green and
black. "Per fess wavy argent and gules" would describe
a shield separated top and bottom by a wavy line, silver on top
and red below.
The next part of a blazon would be a description of any "charge"
which might be present. A charge could be either one or more
figures, or it could be an "ordinary". Ordinaries
are basic geometric shapes, such as "pale" (a vertical
band in the middle), "bend" (diagonal band), "fess"
(a horizontal band), "chevron", "pike" (a
peak), etc. When present, ordinaries are mentioned before any
other charge. Just as with the shield itself, ordinaries may
also be partitioned "per fess", "per pale",
etc.
Any figure could show up as a charge, and books have been
written to keep track of the ones in common usage, and how to
describe them in detail. Their position on the shield is described
in terms such as "in chief" (the upper third of the
shield), "in base" (the lower third), or "in fess"
(the middle third between chief and base), "in pale"
(the middle between left and right), etc. The color of the charge
would then follow, as in; "Vert, a pale wavy argent".
The term "counterchanged" describes the use of the
colors of the field in a contrasting manner. "Proper"
describes a charge that is normal in form and color.
The "bordure" (border) is described last. The line
of the border is described if it is not plain, followed by the
color or pattern.
Maxton Gunn
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